


Royal Blood

by turntechFuckhead



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, M/M, Multi, this will be stridercest my guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:08:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9415433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turntechFuckhead/pseuds/turntechFuckhead
Summary: Dave is to be made the personal knight of Dirk Strider, young prince of the kingdom of Skaia.





	1. Chapter 1

In the kingdom of Skaia, bearing a last name had no importance. Many were the children who went around nameless, being either orphans or the bastard sons and daughters of prostitutes and higher ranked townspeople. But Dave was the son of no prostitute, nor was he an orphan. He had a loving, caring mother. A mother who had raised him on her own, and who bore no surname of her own. But that was quite alright, to Dave’s eyes. He would find a name soon enough. If he even needed one, that is.

 

Even then, Dave hadn’t exactly spent much of his life with his mother. The royal guard enrolled boys at a young age - fifteen, to be exact. When they were deemed legally adult. Nevermind that at heart, they remained children. But the royal guard was, to Dave’s eyes, the best thing that could have happened to him at the moment. Sure, it wasn’t the most comfortable lifestyle in the kingdom. But it was so, so much better than the life of begging, hunger, and homelessness he had led with his mother. With the guards, he had a roof above his head most nights. He had a bed he could sleep in. He had food, even if sometimes it was in small quantities, every day.

 

Yes, Dave was grateful to have joined the guards, even though that meant leaving his mother behind.

 

His training had begun early after his enrollment, and, much to everyone’s surprise, Dave turned out to be extremely skilled with a sword. Not so much with a shield, however. But when someone would point out that fact, Dave would reply: “And who needs a shield, if they know how to wield a sword decently? Defense is futile when the attack is strong enough.” That was his personal motto, his own technique that made him stick out from the rest.

 

But being in the guard soon wasn’t enough for Dave. He had dreams, big dreams, of one day joining the court and becoming a knight. He knew that he still had many, many years to come before he could achieve that dream… If he achieved it at all. But hope prevailed. He was convinced that one day he would find the perfect opportunity, and finally, he would be able to prove himself. This was a promise he made to himself every night as he did his night watch, gazing up in the direction of the castle overlooking the entire capitol.

 

Somehow, the opportunity came much, much sooner than he had expected it. Dave was twenty years of age when the capitol - no, the entire kingdom - quivered in fear. The rumors said that an enemy kingdom had sent out an assassin who happened to be after the young prince’s life. Said assassin had already wiped out a few members of the royal guard in his way. Some of his victims had been Dave’s friends. He made it his personal objective to find whoever had done this and bring his head on a silver platter to the King’s court.

 

A reward was promised to whoever did that, too; while the promise was gold, Dave was sure that he could use this reward for a much different request. If he got the assassin, he could meet the King in person, and ask him to be made Knight. If only. He would do everything in his power to make this real.

 

The hunt was terribly exhausting, mentally and physically. First, Dave had to go look for clues around town. He went to the worst pubs and inns, questioning everyone he met about the assassin. Soon enough, he found a suspect. A certain Hegemonic Brute, agent of the kingdom of Derse. Fortunately, once he had this information, tracking him down became much, much easier. The Brute wasn’t exactly the most… discreet assassin around, leaving trails of dead bodies behind him.

 

Eventually, Dave had managed to find the Brute and face him in a duel - a duel from which he came out as the winner, as well as very much alive, compared to his opponent, whose head he held firmly by the hair as he had made his way to the castle, his armor bloodied and a determined look on his face.

 

It wasn’t long before he got an interview with the King’s counselors. He had expected to see the King himself, but they would be good enough, he figured. Immediately, they offered him gold. A lot of gold, enough for him to be able to go back to the ghetto, find his mother, and live a decent life with her. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to be dubbed knight, and that is exactly what he told the counselors.

 

His request wasn’t met with an immediate answer like Dave had foolishly expected. He was sent back to the royal guards quarters, outside the castle grounds and back in the city, while the counselors were supposed to hold a special meeting with the King, or so they claimed. Now, Dave wasn’t so sure anymore if he could achieve his dreams, and no amount of encouragement and praise from his peers helped.

 

It was only three days later that a courier came to him, announcing the following message to Dave, while he was sitting at the lunch table with a few of his fellow guards:

 

“This message has for recipient Dave, slayer of the Hegemonic Brute. Seven days from now will take place his dubbing as a knight, more exactly, the personal knight of the young prince, Sire Dirk Strider. Dave is not to leave his duties as a guard until the day before the ceremony. All preparations shall be done at dawn.”

Dave was… Astounded. He had lost any hope that his dream would come true... But this was even better. The prince’s personal knight? So he would be close to the royal family? This sounded too good to be true, but the courier wore the royal family crest; this was real, so very real. Soon he would be knight. Soon he would meet the King and prince, and would serve them with his life.

 

This would be the beginning of a new life for Dave. A new life he welcomed with open arms.


	2. Chapter 2

A dubbing ceremony. Just the sound of it was enough to nearly drive Dave into a panic. Just like promised, at dawn, he had been accompanied to the to the knights’ living quarters, within the castle grounds. Once there, he was first shown around. This would be his new home now, and he would better get himself acquainted with the place soon. Then, when the visit was over, he was told to put on his ceremonial gear. The heavy armor proved to be quite the ordeal to wear, really; the clicking and metallic sounds he made at each steps were driving Dave insane, but he would have to deal with it for the rest of the day. And that was something he was more than ready to put up with.

 

Eventually, in the middle of the morning, Dave was led to the entrance of the throne room, where he was instructed to wait until his name was called and the gates were opened. And this was the exact moment when the anxiety started to pile up. Oh God, what was he thinking? Being a knight was so much more dangerous than being guard. If there was a war, would he be sent off alongside the rest of the knights? Or would he get a special treatment for being the prince’s personal knight? That was such a heavy duty, too. If anything ever happened to the prince, Dave would pay for it with his life. And out of all the ways to go, being executed for failing his mission wasn’t exactly his favorite. Also, what if the prince simply hated him? Princes were known to be bratty. He had heard stories from different kingdoms of personal knights being executed solely for their prince’s amusement. God, he just couldn’t afford to disappoint.

 

Finally, a voice interrupted him from his thoughts, urging him to get ready to walk into the throne room. He had been taught everything he would have to do earlier, but struggled to remember the instructions. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Dave’s previously footward gaze, snapped up to settle straight in front of him. Alright. He was ready. There was no going back now anyways. He had to do this.

 

The gates to the throne room opened, and the voices that filled the room gradually toned down into quiet whispers. Right in front of him, he saw them - the King and his son, the prince, both sitting in thrones next to one another. The King looked bored, having an elbow placed on the armrest of his throne and supporting his head with his fist. The prince, however, seemed a bit more attentive, watching Dave with what looked like contained interest. Dave walked towards them, getting closer and closer, until he was at a respectable distance from both royals, and knelt down in front of them. And, as he had gotten closer, something struck him - the incredible shade of orange in both the King and his son’s irises. That seemed… Oddly familiar, to Dave. His own eyes were a bright red, an anomaly that he had inherited at birth and he learned to live with and even forget.

 

But the King soon spoke, tearing Dave from his idle thoughts. “Speak your name, young Sir.” Dave couldn’t help but note, yet again, the obvious lack of interest the King had for this ceremony. He probably wished to be done with it as soon as he could. “Dave, my Liege,” was Dave’s answer, and the King went on; “What would your surname be?” Once again, Dave swallowed harshly, trying to contain his anxiety. “I have none, my Liege.”

 

The King cocked a brow, then, but made no remark about it. He solely continued on with his speech, and it became clearer and clearer that he wished he was elsewhere, doing something else, at this very moment. Dave chose to ignore that, focusing on the prince instead. And, as it turned out, the prince was focusing on him too. their gazes met, and Dave found himself unable to look away. Breaking eye contact would have been considered rude, or even a sign of weakness. He refused to let any of this be the first impression he would give to the one person he would have to protect with his life. So, for the entirety of the King’s speech, Dave stared right into the prince’s eyes.

 

When it was Dave’s turn again to speak, he did not know what to do. Should he break eye contact and look at the King when addressing him? Or should he keep up what he had been doing, to the risk of being rude to the King himself? But the prince made it easier for him, as he broke eye contact himself to look at his father. Almost as if he had been aware of Dave’s turmoil. Then, Dave had no problems looking the King in the eyes as he spoke. “My King, I make the vow to protect your son, the prince, and this at the price of my life.”

 

Then, the King stood up, unsheathing the sword he had at his side, and tapped on either of Dave’s shoulders, now officially declaring him knight. There was a silence for a moment as the King remained standing in front of Dave, who was still kneeling in front of him, until (taking Dave by surprise and making him visibly flinch) the prince lifted both his hands to clap them together, very slowly, very deliberately at first. Then, his clapping became quicker, and the rest of the assembly joined him.

 

The King returned to his throne, and Dave stood up as well. That was it. It really was this easy. He was now an official royal knight. That almost sounded surreal. His thoughts went to his mother for a moment. He hadn’t seen her in years. He didn’t even know if she was still alive… But he really hoped that she was. And he hoped that she would be proud of him, if she saw him, at this very moment.

 

A hand placed on his shoulder interrupted him in his thoughts. As he snapped back to reality, he noticed that the prince had walked towards him, and was now at eye level with him. Then, for the first time in the ceremony, he spoke to Dave, his voice still covered by the sounds of applauses. “Come with me, Dave.” Dave nodded, unable to help the slight stutter in his voice when he replied. “Yes, my prince.”

 

The Prince gave him a soft smile. “Please. Call me Dirk.”

 

And with these words, Dirk led Dave out of the throne room, under the stern watch of his father, the King, and the loud applauses of the crowd.


End file.
